Fire, Air and Steel
by Twin-3
Summary: KiGo, KiRo. Kim and Ron finds themselves in a sitch gone horribly bad and for once doesn't escape unscratched. Rated M for possible future fun.
1. Prologue

-- they all belong to the Mouse! c disney an all that.

Fire, Air and Steel.  
Prologue.

"KP! Watch out!" Kim ducked under a piece of flying debris that another explosion had sent in her direction. Usually it took some time for Dr. Drakken's machinery to blow up after Ron or Rufus had hit the self destruction button that the mad scientist invariably placed on all his inventions. Not this time though, the secret lair was rapidly crumbling around them while a series of explosions thundered through it.

"Ron! I'm ok, where are you?" Cursing to her self while trying to make her way through the piles of shattered concrete and twisted steel she called out to Ron and hoped for an answer to help her find him faster. "Ron! We need to get out of here!" Another explosion shook the lair. This sitch was going south, fast.

"KP! Over here, Shego is with me! We're trapped" A ball of green plasma came rolling across the ceiling over Kim's head, obviously aimed in her general direction as a flare to show her the direction.

Spotting the two through a grid of steel girders in the pile of rubble that was blocking her way Kim quickly convinced her self there was no obvious way around it and dug out her lipstick laser from a pocket. She knew it would be too slow cutting the steel to make her way to them in time, but there were no other options left to her.

Frantically setting to work cutting enough girders out of the barrier between then to get through Kim had time to get an overview over the room ahead of her.

Shego was spectacular of course, even if she did have the look of a cat trapped in a empty oil drum that someone where hammering on, while she was blasting the larger pieces of concrete that were raining down from the ceiling out of the air. Spotting Dr. Drakken who was covering under a console she dismissed him for now as being out of immediate danger and instead directed her attention to Ron who seemed uncharacteristically calm considering the situation. Ducking and weaving around the flying debris, his trademark clumsiness gone.

Kim realised that Ron had been able to call on his mystical monkey powers and that they were now guiding him as he almost danced around the flying debris. She sighed imagining how much of a boost to the team her partner would be if only he had full control of those. Not that he wasn't valuable to her as he was, being able to trust him to always have her back no matter how scared of a situation he was, was worth more to her that any amount of fighting prowess in the world, even if he did screw up now and then.

Satisfied that none of them were in immediate danger, well not more than they could handle at least, Kim returned her attention to her work.

"Shego!"

"Princess?" Shego gritted her teeth blasting another chunk of roof out of the air while trying to catch Kim's words.

"This is too slow, I won't get through fast enough! Can you help me cut it!"

Shego winced as she considered the distance between her and Kim, the ceiling looked even more unstable over there than it did out here where they were and she was hesitant to venture into that area. But Kim had shown again and again a knack for escaping even the worst death traps the combined minds of her enemies could come up with and as much as Shego hated to admit it, she was probably their best bet for making it out of this stupid situation intact "_I'm so going to have a little chat with Dr. D. when we get out of here!_"

Still blasting Shego started to make her way towards Kim with Ron close on her heels. "Coming Princess!" She winched when a length of steel pipe came into view deflecting one of the smaller pieces of debris before it could make a real mess out of her face. "_I'm definitely starting to see why Kim keeps this one around._"

Shego had been genuinely surprised, fully expecting Ron to do his usual headless chicken number as the lair started to cave in on itself, panic, lose his pants and run off to get himself killed somehow. Ok, maybe not killed, for all the clumsiness he usually showed he had the survivability of a cockroach. Drop a tower on his head and he would crawl out of the ruins a bit later, end of the world, and you'd find him last man standing. After all she had seen him get out of impossible situations before, but she hadn't actually expected him to be helpful in doing so. Instead he had just gotten this really calm look to his face, almost like he was meditating or in a trance and had relaxed into an obviously martial arts inspired defensive stance.

Shego had quickly realised the benefit of working together rather than against each other as she started blasting the largest chunks of falling ceiling into dust while Ron protected her from the smaller, but no less lethal projectiles that were the results of her own blasts and minor explosions that were still sending shockwaves through the remains of the lair.

Not one to look a given horse in the mouth Shego filed her thoughts away for later and refocused on the situation. Kim had kicked one girder out of the way and started to cut into the next one. Still mainly concentrating on the ceiling Shego was just about to ask where Kim needed the first cut as the opposite wall bellowed out in one last huge explosion.

Shego felt Ron's hand push her out of the way a fraction of a second before a razor sharp serrated piece of bloody metal embedded itself into one of the steel girders in front of her and she felt Ron's body collapsing onto hers. The shockwave that followed close behind picked them up and forcefully threw them into the pile of concrete and steel that Kim had been trying to get through.

Dazed the last thing Shego heard before passing out briefly was the impact when one of the larger construction beams in the pile came down on the trapped form of Kim Possible with a sickening crunch.

"Shego! Shego!" Shego came back to consciousness to the sound of Drakken's high pitched voice calling out her name. Groaning she rolled the warm body off her back and prioritising her situation ignored Drakken's steadily more desperate sounding voice while scanning the room.

The lair seemed stable although the groaning of overstressed construction beams and sharp cracks of concrete off in the distance convinced her that this was only temporary. At least the remainder of the ceiling and the mountain above it seemed to have come to a tentative agreement with gravity and seemed happy to stay put for the moment.

That sorted Shego did a quick pad down of herself ensuring there were no major broken bones or serious bleeders before turning to the unconscious body next to her. Checking Ron's pulse she allowed her self small sigh of relief when she found it beating slow but strong.

"Kimmie? Princess?" Shego called out while she checked Ron's backside for any major wounds before carefully turning him over to repeat the investigation on his front.

"Kim! Are you ok in there? Answer me dammit!" Shego ripped Ron's shirt open to do a quick but thorough examination of his stomach, looking for signs of inner bleeding when she didn't see any critical external wounds.

"Uugh... Shego?"

Shego breathed an even larger sigh of relief hearing Kim's voice coming out of the rubble. It seemed someone had just removed a medium sized mountain from her heart.

"Hi Princess, how're you doing in there? Hang on I'll get you out in a minute." Finishing up examining Ron's stomach Shego lifted her eyes to his face to check for head injuries and froze with an audible gasp.

"Not too good, I'm pinned down and I think my legs are broken Shego." A whisper of movement followed immediately by a subdued cry of pain filtered through the rubble. "Yeah, definitely broken-- Shego-- is Ron out there? Is he ok?"

Shego swallowed trying to get her voice under control still it broke as she answered "Yeah, he'll live Princess." She looked to the bloodstained piece of debris that had been flung by the last explosion with enough force to embed itself into steel. If the sidekick hadn't pushed her out of the way, that sliver would have gone right through her skull. Shego lowered her eyes looking back to Ron and the price he had paid for her life.

Shego didn't really consider her self soft or emotional vulnerable, but tears flowed freely from her green eyes as she took in the damage the explosion powered projectile had done. It was a clean cut, but that was little comfort when it started at the upper left cheekbone cutting deeply before exiting shallower at the upper right side of his right eye; a neat clean cut that would leave him in the dark forever.

"Stoppable." Shego whispered her fists clenched and her cheeks wet. "I owe you; I owe you so big that I don't think I will ever be able to make it up to you."

"Dr. D! Over here now!" Shego bellowed from the top of her lungs.

"But Shego..." The blue man whimpered from his position of relative safety under the console.

"If I have to come over there and get you; I will kill you! It will hurt! Lots!"

Scrambling out of his bolthole the mad scientist hurried over to Shego. Mad? Maybe, stupid? Not so much and Drakken had long ago learned to recognise Shego's 'not open for debate' voice. Sometimes he wondered who was the boss and who was the henchwoman in this little business of theirs, but never while she was using that voice, avoid dying now, grumble about her lack of respect later.

Shego dragged him down next to her and he gulped seeing the laceration to Ron's face. "Help him Dr. D." Shego's voice was still in 'ready to inflict a lot of pain' mode so Drakken decided to let his 'but I'm not that kind of doctor' argument drop unspoken. She lowered her voice so she was sure Kim wouldn't hear her. "Make sure to have it covered up, so she doesn't see that when I get her out." Drakken just nodded.

Shego stood and lit her fists. "Kimmie! Ron is going to be ok, I'm coming for you now." Then she tore into the pile of steel and concrete with far more force than was probably wise.

Kim found herself in a rather awkward situation, normally having your arc nemesis yell your name in combination with 'I'm coming for you' would be considered bad. When you were also pinned down, wounded and unable to fight 'bad' could probably safely be elevated to 'oh shit'.

Right now, as she heard plasma cutting into steel and concrete, metal and stone being forcefully ripped out and thrown to the floor Kim wasn't really worried about that part though. There had always been a certain -honesty- in her fights with Shego and Kim couldn't really imagine Shego taking advantage of the situation, it would just seem... cheap somehow.

No, Kim was far more worried about Ron; Shego might have told her he was going to be ok but her tone of voice suggested otherwise and she called him Ron. Shego never used his first name; it was always 'sidekick', 'stoppable' or 'buffoon', never Ron. Yes, Ron might be alive, but he was definitely not 'ok' in any sense of the word, of that much she was sure.

Kim grasped again at the beam that held her legs pinned, she made a very conscious effort to not think about how small the gap between the beam and the floor was, certainly much less than it should have been considering her legs were somehow fitting through that same gap. Her desperate need to get out of there and get to Ron lend her strength as she struggled to lift the beam off her legs. The beam however was totally unimpressed.

Hammering her fist against the steel keeping her trapped Kim let out a wordless scream of frustration. "_I am Kim Possible! I do not –do- helpless!_"

Outside Kim's scream spurred Shego to up her pace even more "It's ok princess I'm coming for you, almost there now! It won't be long!" She had never heard Kim scream like that and she wasn't sure if it was in pain or anger. She did know that she had to get -her- princess out of there now and it could only take too long!

"Shegooo? Could you please fill me in on what part of the plan saving Kim Possible and erh--"

"Stoppable! Ron Stoppable!" both women shouted as one.

"Yeah... that, fits in?" Dr. Drakken had finished tending to Ron's wound, rinsing out blood, dirt and grit as well as he could hoping to lessen the risk for infections and had carefully wrapped a bandage around his head. Both Shego's order, the risk of further contamination and the future wrath of Kim Possible if he didn't do his very best to help-- Ronald was it?-- made it prudent.

"And that comes from a man whose last doomsday device was pretty much a fancied up cardboard box with some junk electronics thrown in, just so he could test his latest strategies against Team Possible." Shego's voice regained some of its sarcasm as she answered her employer.

"That was research!" Drakken whined. "And I thank you for not discussing our evil motivation in front of our mortal enemies!"

"Yeah, well Dr. D." Shego couldn't help letting a little smile into her voice this time, her hand had just touched Kim's leg. "You and I both have a lot of reasons for being in this line of business." She managed to slide a little further into the pile this time grasping on tightly to a hand that came forward to meet hers. "But coldblooded killing was never one of them." Keeping her hand firmly clasped to Kim's she dragged her self forward. "And let's face it Dr. D. Without these two." Shifting her weight Shego lifted her free hand and lit it up to look down at Kim's tear streaked face and smiled. "This gig wouldn't be half as fun!"

"Hey there Kimmie--" _-Pumpkin-_ "lets get you out of here shall we?"


	2. Revelations

For those who reviewed the first part, thank you very much, I'm sorry for not being better at responding to the reviews; I was a bit overwhelmed with this being my first work and stuff... I'll try to do better, really!

Boy this chapter was hard; it's been written, rewritten, rewritten again, taken apart, put together and rewritten one more time. I'm not sure it's still what I want but if I don't post it now I'll just find more I want to redo and it'll never get finished. Seriously, I think I've stared myself so blind at it by now that I'm not even sure if it works at all. So any criticism and comments are really welcome.

Disclaimer: they all belong to Disney, and I'm pretty sure the mouse wouldn't endorse what I do to them.

_Edit: A small change just before Shego leaves that I hope will clarify the relationship between Kim and her since the original seems to have been slightly unclear on that point._

---

**Revelations**.

Listening to the rustle of cloth coming from the dark room inside, Shego eased the window open just enough to allow her entry. She wasn't really too worried about being discovered by the lone occupant of the room, but old habits die hard and she paused once inside to let her senses take in the surroundings.

No building especially not a hospital was ever totally silent, soft conversation from the nurses on the nightshift, humming from the electrics, the wheezes and electronic blips from life sustaining machinery and the roar from the powerful air-conditioning system deep in the bowels of the building all added to the unheard pulse of the building and Shego leaned into it, using it to mask any sound she might make as she slowly made her way over to the restless form occupying the large hospital bed.

Shego slid onto the chair that had thoughtfully been placed near the headrest of the bed for visitors. She leaned slightly closer to make out the features of Kim in the dark as she again tossed her head in a futile attempt to find rest, or was it relief from the thoughts churning behind those knitted brows and tense face. Shego wasn't sure, but she had to restrain herself from brushing back the matted hair and soothe out the wrinkles that had formed on the redhead's forehead.

Pulling her hand back Shego leaned back in the chair trying to collect her thoughts, she had practiced for this, rehearsed the lines, tried to predict Kim's responses-- and now, here-- it all fell apart.

Kim let out a sigh of frustration and turned on the light, another sleepless night alone with her thoughts. Brushing her hair out of her face with a hard gesture she glared down at the cast holding her lower body immobilised then let her head fall back on the pillow. It was just so-- infuriating. The girl who can do everything, except anything-- and Ron-- oh god, sometimes these days she wanted to throw daggers at him herself. -_And it's just not fair!-_ He would sit there, next to her bed trying to be his usual goofy self, even blind _he_ was trying to cheer _her_ up and sometimes she just wanted to scream.

And when she did, he would just sit there and take it, let her frustrations wash over him and shrug them off like a rock in a rough sea. She really didn't want to be a bitch, it was one of the reasons she loved him so much after all, his ability to always inside that goofy exterior be her foundation to stand on; the unmovable pillar that would always be there for her to cling on to. _He_ was the reason she could do anything!

But sometimes, -_like now- _she needed someone who would fight back, someone who wouldn't just take her anger and accept it, but would throw it back in her face, pick up the gauntlet and fight her with everything they got. Make it feel like her anger and frustration mattered, let her know that it was seen and felt.

Someone like…

"Shego!"

Shego had been doing her best 'deer captured in headlights' impression when Kim turned the lights on, conflicting between bolting and hiding she had ended up just staying right where she was, real quiet like. The redhead was obviously preoccupied by her thoughts, even as she had first raised her head to scowl at her cast and then fell back on her pillow glaring at the ceiling so hard Shego had almost expected it to burst into flames, Kim hadn't noticed the woman sitting next to her bed, until now.

Her name came first, flung at her with a force that gave warning, but left little time to react before the vanguard of the brutal onslaught to follow splintered against her forehead. Stunned Shego patiently waited for the water that had left the glass somewhere in the middle of the journey from Kim's hand to catch up to its companion and splash down on her face and chest, before she dived for cover behind the chair.

Rubbing the bruise on her forehead Shego stayed in the shadow of the chair while every object that wasn't bolted down in reach of Kim became a missile aimed in her general direction. Reconsidering the wisdom of this nightly visit Shego made a mental note about the prudence of making sure to remove all lose objects from the immediate vicinity before waking the redhead up, should she survive.

The ferocious bombardment died our mercifully fast, but Shego feared it was only a lull in the storm when she heard Kim searching through the nightstand for more disposables. -_Brilliant plan Shego, just stroll into your fiercest enemy in the middle of the night for a chit chat, yeah, that'll work well._-

While Kim was occupying herself searching for more potential missiles, Shego tried to come up with a way to break the stalemate. She could of coursejust stand up, ignite her plasma and fry the cheerleader in her bed, but that might spoil the mood Shego had hoped to set for this little heart to heart. Knowing she'd never get Kim to listen in her current state of mind she looked around for inspiration, her eyes fell on a few of the items that had been flying through the air just moments ago; she smiled...

Kim finally gave up her search and realising the potential health risk in turning her back on the world's most lethal woman, turned back to face the chair that, without thought for its own safety offered shelter for the fugitive. Above the back of the chair what looked like a diminutive white flag made from a piece of paper clipped onto a pen, it had had the word "Please?" scribbled on it with obvious haste.

Hearing a cross between a gasp and a laugh Shego's smile broadened, she had hoped the absurdity of the image would stroke Kim's funny bone long enough to shake the redhead out of assault mode and into curiosity mode. A final raspy intake was heard as Kim strained to regain control of her throat and then a long silence.

Shego behind the chair still waving her little flag had started to feel anxious again as the silence dragged out but finally the line "Ok Shego, come out with your hands where I can see them No tricks, I have a Pandaroo, and I'm not afraid to use him!" was delivered in a tone of voice hinting of the use of nuclear arsenals as the next retort.

"_Pandaroo? What the… Wait… isn't that… her cuddlebuddy?_" Shego cracked a wide grin.

The black hair raised above the back of the chair followed by a pair of huge green eyes darting around in mock panic. "Whew! You sure are a grouch in the morning Kimmie."

Kim's apprehensive eyes followed Shego as she moved out from behind the chair, every step overdramatizing the unwillingness to leave the safety of her makeshift shelter. "I wasn't expecting company in the middle of the night Shego, especially not you. What are you doing here?"

Shego intently studied the imaginary watch that wasn't on her wrist. "Well technically its..."

"Shego!"

"Ok Ok Princess, I had hoped the little 'saving your life' thing would buy me into your good grace long enough for a talk." Shego bend down to pick up the notebook she had pilfered the paper for her improvised flag from. "I certainly didn't expect you to attack me with this!" She waved the notebook in Kim's face in mock anger. "Do you have any idea how _dangerous_ paper cuts can be Princess?"

A nervous giggle escaped Kim around the teeth biting her lower lip. Seeing Shego in silly mode was a rare event, actually thinking back Kim could only remember one occurrence, this one included. She liked it, but it was so uncharacteristic for Shego that it was unsettling too.

Shego had certainly earned the right for a talk, even if she hadn't saved Kim's life, which she had. That didn't mean Kim was comfortable having her close though. There was time when she would have been less on edge with Shego showing up for a chat; when she could have trusted Shego to not take advance of her helplessness. They hadn't been friends, far from it... maybe... best enemies? But that was before...

Kim looked at the emergency button she was holding in her hand; it was the only thing she had been able to find that she hadn't already thrown at Shego. It wouldn't have made a good projectile anyways, its cord locking it to the wall and being too short to reach the thief. Considering pressing the button Kim decided against that idea. If Shego had come to play rough the hospital security wouldn't be able to do anything about it, except taking up more bed space in an already crowded hospital.

Taking the silence as consent, Shego pulled the chair a little further away from Kim, hoping that the symbolic distance would help calm her, before sliding into it. "How bad is it?" She nodded toward the cast feeling the need to defuse the situation further.

"You don't know? I thought all you villains had your ears to the rumour block for stuff like this?" Kim sounded decidedly snippy about it imagining all her enemies celebrating her misfortune.

Shego rolled her eyes; this was not going to be easy. "We do; I don't. This place is locked down tighter than a virgin's a..." She bit her tongue, Kim probably wouldn't appreciate the illustration. The petite redhead could be quite a prude when it struck her. "It looks like someone is going through a lot of trouble to keep the extent of you injury under wraps; doing a good job too. All anyone know for sure is; and I quote 'The world renowned crime fighter Kim Possible and her partner, The Buffoon, has both been committed to hospital for treatment of injuries sustained while once again foiling the plans of the notoriously sexy Shego and the blue idiot that hangs around with her."

"Ok ok, it might not be an exact quote! Do I look like a walking newsstand?" Shego held up a protective hand and feigned dodging Kim's suspicious glare. "Seriously though, that's pretty much all the information that has been released to the more informed law enforcement agencies, the world saving part has as usual been tagged need to know, so the media and the regular police only know that you've sustained injuries unknown, estimated recovery time unknown."

Kim nodded. Covering up that the world had been in danger, again, was business as usual for Global Justice, the reasoning being that John Q. Public would probably be rather upset knowing how often the rock he called home, and imagined were a pretty sweet and safe place to live, actually needed saving. "The buffoon?"

"Uhmm... yeah... that's mine too. The interdepartmental note I... err, appropriated just mentioned him as 'the sidekick'" Shego turned the thought in her mind for a moment. "Is he really that forgettable or is he just extremely skilled at cruising below people's radar?"

Kim shrugged noncommittally. "Probably a little of both, people just seem to miss that he's around."

Considering the wisdom of letting the villain in on a secret that GJ was obviously trying to keep away from the public as a whole and the villain community specifically Kim hesitated, but Shego had been the one to bring Ron and herself out of the lair. She probably already had a very good idea of how bad the damage was. "Both Femurs broken, well crushed is probably closer to the truth. They were concerned enough about the tissue damage that they considered amputation..."

Shego was speechless, that thought had never crossed her mind she hadn't, couldn't, imagine any situation that Kim wouldn't eventually stand up and walk out on.

"Shego? Are you ok?" Kim's voice grew concerned as she watched the already unnaturally pale woman turn even paler.

Shego shook herself back to reality. "I just hadn't imagined..." her voice trailed away for a moment before coming back. "Do they... will you... walk again?"

Surprised and warmed by the genuine concern in Shego's voice Kim felt a real smile spreading over her lips for the first time tonight. "I will. The X-rays looks like one of the tweeps inventions with all the titanium they stuck in there, but I should recover completely. I'll be back out there kicking your green butt again before you know it."

Shego was so relieved she didn't even catch the dig, at first... "Kick my butt? You're dreaming again Kimmie!"

"You know how it goes Shego, the good girls always wins in the end."

"Only in fairytales Princess; and I'll be happy to give you the grand tour of reality when you get outta here." Getting back into familiar territory a smirk started to form on Shego's face when she threw the challenge at Kim.

Kim was about to turn on her game face and retort in kind; falling into her usual role and bantering with Shego would be so easy... and safe, but. "Shego, why are you here?"

The half formed smirk instantly vanished from the older woman's lips to be replace by... something else. If it had been anyone else Kim would have thought it was remorse, but on Shego? "Not that I don't appreciate the visit..." Actually Kim could easily imagine a lot of things she's appreciate much more than getting unscheduled nightly visits from her arc nemesis, but it sounded like the kind of thing she was supposed to say.

Seeing right through the polite phrase Shego just eyed Kim for a moment until the redhead cracked, Kim threw her hands up and rolled her eyes. "Well what do you want me to say? I find it hard to believe that the most dangerous woman on earth just drops by for a courtesy call just to inquire about my health. Spill it Shego."

Running her hands through her black mane bought Shego a few seconds before answering. "I did come to see you Kim, you were not in good shape when we dropped you off at the hospital, We... I was concerned." Kim didn't believe that for a moment and it was clearly visible on her face. Shego sighed. "Don't worry, I wouldn't believe me either and it's not the only reason either."

Trying to come up with the right way to say it Shego finally blurted out. "I came to get Stoppable." She failed.

"What?"

"Uhmm, that didn't come out right... let me try again. I trained with some people, years ago before I made my career move to the shadier side of the law. I think they might be able to help your boyfriend." Seeing a glimmer in Kim's eyes, Shego quickly moved on before she got her hopes up. "They won't be able to fix his eyes Kim. But they may be able to teach him to live without them; martial art types, very big on using other senses than just your eyes when fighting. I'm hoping they can teach him those skills to make his life easier."

"You really expect me to let you steal him away in the middle of the night, dragging him off to god knows where, believing that you just suddenly turned into the Good Samaritan?"

"Believe what you will Princess, the fact is that I _will _bring Stoppable there. I'm telling you because I really would prefer not to have to dodge every damn international police force on the lookout for a green skinned woman and a blind guy because you cry bloody murder. I will do it if I have to, but I'm hoping to convince you to let him go with me."

"Why?"

"Why? I just told..."

"No. Why the sudden interest in Ron? You've always regarded him as nothing more than an annoyance. Don't tell me you've suddenly fallen for the Stoppable charm."

Shego frowned. "Hardly Princess; I don't like him, I don't want to like him; in fact, there's been times where I really hated his guts."

"You think I'll let you take him after..."

"Blessed hell Kim!" Shego threw out her hands in frustration. "Do you think this is easy for me? I resent him but he risked his life for me, not just saved my life. You and I have saved each other several times, but he is the first one ever to put his own life on the line for me... ever." She slumped down on the chair. "I don't pretend to understand it, but he did and managed to lose his sight doing it. How can I not..."

The silence carried on until Shego finally looked up to see Kim deep in thought. "You didn't know?" More statement than question she was surprised to learn that the sidekick hadn't told Kim about the role Shego played in the accident.

"No..." Kim dragged out the word "It makes sense now." Then she looked back at Shego. "I think there's more to it than that Shego."

Startled Shego asked. "More?"

"Yes, It makes sense now... I think." Kim ran her fingers through her hair looking for the words to explain. "You noticed a change in him when the two of you were trapped in the room that was caving in on you of course."

"Yes." Shego nodded thinking back. "I was too busy to give it much thought at the time." After getting out she had given it a fair deal of thought though, the change from the normally bumbling panicky comic relief to the more than competent defender that had kept her back free was startling. "What was up with that? I can't believe that he has just been playing the clutch all these years."

"It is his 'Mystic Monkey Powers' they come and goes seemingly at their own will."

Shego snapped her fingers, a small flicker of plasma light up from them and died with the sound. When she had first gotten control over her powers she had been practicing doing that for hours thinking it looked really cool; now it was just a meaningless habit. "Monkey Fist? That's why the style was familiar!" The similarity was so obvious now that it had been pointed out that Shego could have slapped herself for not making the connection earlier.

Kim nodded. "There's a difference though, Monty was an accomplished practitioner in Monkey kungfu before he gained access to the powers; and as far as I can tell he is using it to enhance his already considerable skill. With Ron it's different; for him they sort of takes over, he's still in charge of the big picture, but they control the body and does the fighting."

Casting a look at Shego to see if she was following Kim elaborated. "The result is that Monty is always 'on' but controlled, limited if you will, whereas Ron is usually 'off' but much more unrestricted and uncontrolled when he's 'on'." Noticing that Shego didn't seem to get the repercussions Kim decided to drive the point home with a seven inch nail. "I don't know if you ever fought Monkey Fist?" Shego shook her head in a negative. "Well, I can't even touch him, he's just that good. Ron, when powered op sweeps the floor with him as if it's no big."

"Wow..." Shego stared into nothing for a moment; she just couldn't imagine anyone that good. If she hadn't seen the changed Ron, she'd sworn Kim was trying to pull her leg. "I'm not sure I can believe that... but you said that there was more to it than him risking his life for me?"

Again Kim nodded. "It has to do with how his powers work, he tried explaining it to me and I'm not sure if I understood it correct but; Imagine being in the passenger seat of a car. You're holding the map; you can see where you are going and all the possibilities for getting there. But someone else is doing the actual driving.

"I fail to see your point, if he already knew what would happen, why didn't he just avoid the situation totally?"

"The powers don't make you psychic, it works on events that has and are happening to extrapolate what most likely will happen, you could consider it a deep running very accurate intuition if you will. The fact is that they couldn't predict the explosion, with it all the odds were changed and all the options that were open to him were wiped off the list to be replaced with new ones based on the changed reality."

The Green thief turned even paler when she suddenly realised what it was Kim was driving at. "So you're saying..."

"What had me puzzled about it all was; I knew that he was powered up, and I couldn't understand that there wasn't one option left to him that would have left him unharmed or with a lesser injury. But with you in the equation... he simply chose the best outcome where you would both live."

"You are saying that it wasn't an accident; that he knew what it would cost him so save me... And he still did it." Her voice trailed away into a silence that lasted a long time. It was broken by a low mumble that escaping her lips and slowly rose in volume, while she recited every curse and profanity in her vocabulary, until she was just short of outright screaming the final string of obscenities. Finally she buried her face in her hands and muttered. "If there is a god, she has a sick sick sense of humour."

Kim wasn't sure what to say to that, so she wisely closed her mouth and held her tongue.

"Why?" The question interrupted yet another lengthy silence where Shego hadn't moved at all, but she finally raised her head to ask of Kim. "Why did he do it Kim? I could never have done the same for him."

"Shego, did you ever wonder why he's been doing all these missions with me for years? Even if you've only seen him as an opponent it can't have escaped you that he really isn't too comfortable most of the time."

"'Not too comfortable'" Shego snorted. "That's a very polite term for 'In a state of total panic' Princess'"

Kim just nodded no point in arguing against the truth. "And yet he's still there. I, and I think it's the same for you Shego; we're so sure in our abilities that we can't comprehend that there is something that we can't handle. We know that what we do is dangerous, but it doesn't scare us. Ron is not like us, He's very conscious about his and mine mortality when we're out there. But when the chips comes down, he does what he know is right, no matter how scared he is."

"That is the true 'Ronness' Shego. Doing, despite his fear, what he has to do no matter the risk or cost to himself." Kim smiled. "I'd be surprised if he had chosen any other way, it would have been as impossible for him to let you die to save himself as it would have been for a fish to suddenly learn to breathe air."

"Even though I was his enemy..."

"_Was"_? Kim tilted her head to a side and her green eyes narrowed as she studied the thief's face trying to discern if she really didn't consider Ron an enemy anymore or if she was just being very clever in trying to alleviate Kim's apprehension about letting her take Ron with her. "I don't think that mattered to him Shego." Kim held her breath for a moment. "Why does it bother you so much?"

Shego shot a fierce glare at Kim. "Don't you see? If all that is true; it just makes my debt to him so much larger!"

"And you hate him..."

"I don't hate him."

"You said..."

"I said that there have been times when I really hated him, lately I've just been resenting him... a lot."

"Why?" Kim was seriously wondering about this, it was her that had been fighting Shego all these years while Ron was mostly dealing with Drakken. He played a part in bringing their plans down, true; but from Shego's point of view he would have been very much on the sideline. Kim just couldn't see how the mercenary could have build up so much animosity against him.

"When did this turn in to open heart night, Princess?"

"I don't trust you as far as I can throw you Shego. So unless you're really keen to have me hit every alarm in the book the moment you try and take Ron out of here, you better do a damn good job of convincing me you're telling the truth!"

Shego studied Kim's face, no, the redhead really didn't trust her; she'd fight and banter and even tolerate Shego's presence here tonight if she had to, but on a fundamental level the mistrust was deeply rooted and Shego was all too aware that she had no one to blame for that but herself.

"He, Ron, between him, myself and... a few other things... It's not so much that he has done anything as him being who he is, where he is... he got in the way..." It was not so much that Shego had trouble telling the truth, in fact for a thief she rarely found lying outside business hours necessary, it was always so much easier to just not tell anything at all if she didn't feel like it and the threat of a plasma enema had a deterring effect on all but the most curious; or stupid. But even they usually came around to see things her way.

She sighed, Kim distrusted her because of what she had done and Shego could not move on because of... well... maybe it was time to finally get things out in the open. It would not fix things, or change them. But maybe it would offer closure for both of them.

"How to explain this… You remember the lil'Diablo 'incident' of course." Kim nodded, not her finest moment, but if Shego was aiming at the point Kim was thinking of, surely that would make her hate her, not Ron…

"You killed me Kim…" Shego held up a hand cutting off the redhead before she could utter the protest that was forming on her lips. "I was not a threat anymore Kim, I was just trying to get away." Current was surging through her body once again while the control tower collapsed onto her, Kim's cold hard uncaring eyes growing bigger coming into focus while Shego so slowly drifted closer in a graceful arc preparing for the kick that had just hammered into her chest. Shego shuddered and opened her eyes shaking the memory off her. "It was your eyes Kim, they told it all..." A weak smile played over Shego's lips. "I lived Kim; my superhuman physique saved me, that and sheer bloody lucks... and I'm not even Irish"

Shego refocused on Kim trying to catch her eyes while Kim on her part was doing her best to avoid meeting Shego's. "I'm not mad at you Kim and I know you have been absolutely mortified about it."

Kim's liquid eyes finally met Shego's. "How...?"

Shego almost laughed. "You've been pulling your punches Princess, in the beginning you tried to avoid fighting me if there were any other option open to you, but when there were none; you've been pulling your punches whenever you had a change for a critical hit that might actually do serious damage. I swear, for a while you'd think I was made of glass with how careful you fought me."

Shego smiled, trying to put Kim at ease. "I don't blame you; it must have been scary discovering you had that in you. But before I go on... I need to know; what was going through your mind at that moment Kim?"

Kim fell back on her pillow with a deep sigh breaking eye contact with Shego in favour of resting her sight on the carefully neutral of the rooms ceiling. It was not like she hadn't thought about it before. In fact hardly a day had gone by since then without her thinking about it, but to say it out loud; to Shego...

"You betrayed me Shego." Shego held her breath, fearful that if she interrupted Kim she would lose her nerve and clamp up.

"I trusted you; I thought I knew you by then. Brutal fighting, banter, teasing, innuendo even the pet names you always seemed to spend so much time thinking up; It was all part of what we had. I admired you." Ignoring the wisdom of not revealing too much Kim turned to face the woman who was hanging on every word she said and then threw caution to the wind; She needed to get this off her heart, and she'd never have a better chance than now. "I was crushing on you, big time."

A quick glance at Shego to see how she took that revelation left Kim with a strange mix of amusement and bitterness when Shego seemed taken aback with shock. "What's the matter Shego? Didn't peg me for an equal opportunity girl? Or is it just the thought that a woman had the hots for you that makes your skin crawl?" Taking a small amount of satisfaction in throwing the bitter words at her, Kim wasn't about to stop. "Oh, don't worry Shego; you killed those feelings fast enough."

The shell-shocked mercenary was mentally pounding her head against the wall sharp cries of denial ringing through her mind in rhythm with each thud as her forehead impacted with hard imaginary concrete, as it was all she managed was a. "But... I..." before Kim cut her off.

"I got to hand it to you Shego even if you didn't know, you struck gold there and you couldn't have hit me harder if you had planned it." Kim's laugh, totally devoid of any mirth rang through the room. "Picture this for a laugh: Little Kimmie in love with the big bad Shego, trying to get rid of the thoughts of having her nemesis moan her name all night long; she finally finds a boy that scores high all the right places on the checklist, and he was even really likeable too. So she tries... and what happens?"

Kim's voice dropped to a growl. "You changed the rules."

"Kimmie... I.."

"SHUT UP SHEGO!" The cry was still ringing through Shego's head when Kim dropped back into mocking upbeat. "Now where was I? Oh right..." The cheerful tone grated down Shego's back. "The cute guy that little Kimmie really wanted to like, turned out to be a synthodrone. Created to make her fall in love with it, and then betray her." Kim waited a few seconds until she saw Shego's lips part to speak, then she cut her off again. "Oh! But wait! There is more... as it turns out the one woman she'd never have believed would have tried hurting her like that... the one of her enemies she actually trusted to play fair... the one... she was in love with; turns out to be behind it all... now isn't that ironic," between two words Kim changed from fake enthusiasm to emotionless rage. "Shego?"

"I Didn't..."

Once again Kim cut her off, not ready to let go of her anger yet. "I know you say you didn't know about the plan until it was too late Shego." Kim brushed the unspoken argument away as inconsequential. "But that doesn't change the fact that once you did know, you took advantage of it. Exploiting the opening in my armour and each one of your words burned hotter and more painful than the fire you called from your hands."

Kim fell back on her bed, her eyes once again searching the cool white of the ceiling above now her voice just sounded tired the anger draining from her. "Killing you... My goal wasn't that clear." It was slowly replaced with something else... regret? Sadness? She wasn't really sure. "I just wanted to make sure you could never ever hurt me like that again."

"And now, Kim..." Shego spoke softly, her eyes seeking the floor to avoid meeting Kim's. "Do you still hate me?"

Kim's voice betrayed her conflicting emotions. "No Shego, I don't do hate well. I am mad at you and scared of you for what you made me feel and do and when I think back at that time I remember those feelings. But I remember all the things I liked about you too and I miss what I thought we had. I don't hate you Shego, but I can't trust you either."

"Shego...? I _am_ sorry..."

"Yeah, Kim, me too... me too..."

Both women held their silence for a long time until Shego finally broke it.

"Everybody." Shego's voice shook Kim out of her thoughts. "Everybody has an image of themselves, what they are, who they are. Realising that that image is out of touch with reality can be a... disturbing experience."

"I always thought I knew who I was sharp tongued, smart and independent, I liked fighting, money, men, thrills. At the risk of stealing someone else's catchphrase; I was the best at what I did, and I knew it so had no need to prove it. Then you showed up Kimmie.

A short laugh escaped Shego. "Boy I was pissed, some cheerleader fighting _me_ to a standstill? Quite a dent you made in my self-confidence there Princess. It didn't take long though before I started to see you as a challenge; after all, you were the only one that dared stand up to me. Everybody else kept their distance of sort of just... melted away once I lit up. But not you; and I started respecting you for that."

"After a while. I found myself looking forward to our fights; telling myself it was because I enjoyed the challenge so much; and it was true… to a point. I'm not sure when it turned into something else, but one day I found myself looking forward to seeing you more than to fight you."

"I wanted to hurt you..." She stood with a suddenness that startled Kim. "I needed to hurt you." Shego threw out her hands in a gesture that mirrored her frustration that day and started pacing. "Dr.D's plan had actually worked; you were in love with the damn drone." Abruptly she stopped midstride and swirled to face Kim. "Remember what I said about inner images that doesn't match reality?"

Caught in the sudden beam of Shego's eyes Kim just nodded.

"Right, this was the mother of all mismatches. I was hurt, scared and desperate; I felt betrayed and I had no idea why. It wasn't supposed to mean anything to me; you weren't supposed to mean anything to me; It was not who I was…" A moment Shego looked like she was going to advance on Kim, then her arms fell flatly down her side and she turned her head aside. "When I hurt, Kim, things break. I was overwhelmed and the only way I had to deal with it was feed my anger with those base feeling and lash out; and you were the obvious target… the only target.

Kim suddenly realised that Shego was looking down at her leaning over the bed and she had no idea when or how the thief had moved in that close. A single tear was drying on Shego's cheek when she reached out to lightly touch the side of Kim's face.

"I guess, Pumpkin, the two of us aren't that different after all." Frozen in place Kim's eyes grew scared wide when Shego leaned in even closer, and closed them when Shego brushed her lip's against Kim's own in a light kiss. "We're both able to do things we regret when in love."

Shego pushed off from the bed before Kim could gather her wits and realise that the thief had just stolen a kiss. –_I'll never get that chance again_- A little disappointed, but not surprised over the lack of response from Kim: Shego turned towards the door to leave.

Unsure about what had just happened Kim opened her eyes to see Shego stand and turn away. 

"What now Shego?" Kim's eyes followed the thief's back when she moved to the door. 

Shego opened the door and held it open just enough for her to slip out in the empty hallway, before turning her head towards Kim one last time. "I do what I have to Kim; and so do you... what else is there?" 

When Shego disappeared through the door Kim's fingers involuntary moved to her lips where they had been touched so gently just a moment ago. Then her eyes flew wide open. –_She kissed me!_- 

-_ She was... is... in love with __me...- _Kim fell back in the bed and threw the back of her wrist across her eyes blocking out the light as the door clicked shut behind Shego _–So the big!-_

Ron reached out fumbling over the top of the nightstand next to his hospital bed, finally finding what he sought his fingers slid over the now familiar surface of the talking clock, locating and pressing the button. The clock responded; as it had a habit of doing around this hour with informing him in its dry electronic voice that it was way too early or late to be awake.

Sighing he sat up in the bed; being in a hospital didn't really make for sleeping in, but even then his inner clock had trouble adjusting to the lack of light and his brain would loudly proclaim that it was time to rise at the strangest hours. Collecting his legs below him his body easily found its way into the lotus position and the familiarity of the movement helped ease him into the beginning of a light meditative state. Breathing deeply Ron searched for the place of tranquillity in his centre as they had tried to teach him at his brief stay at the Yamanouchi School. He had not paid much attention then, and only rarely had tried meditation since, but these days he felt it helped him getting through dealing with the panic that threatened to take over whenever he let himself think too much about his situation.

"Hey Stoppable..."

Meditation is effective, centred in a place of absolute calm as he was Ron didn't even feel surprise over the unexpected voice coming out of the darkness surrounding him. Instead his mind calmly turned the words over, the voice was familiar but he couldn't place it. It didn't belong to any of the people he could reasonably except show up at this hour so he did the sensible thing; turned his head where he expected the speaker to be and asked. "Who's there?"

"Me... Shego."

Meditation is effective, but it's not a miracle. Between trying to do four things at once: fleeing, panicking, staying calm and trying to take a defensive position, all he succeeded at was a short, less than graceful flightwith constant acceleration; it would actually have been a pretty impressing manoeuvre and might even have been effective if the floor hadn't rudely interjected itself in the largely vertical flight path.

"Oh for heaven's sake!" Shego threw her arms up. "What is it with you two and overreacting to unexpected visits?"

---

To be continued and thanks for reading :).

T-3


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